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Letting out your home to film
and TV crews

Liz Hodgkinson explains

If you have an interesting or unusual home, you may consider making money from it by letting it out for films and TV shows. There is a huge demand for all kinds of homes, with the following provisos:

• The rooms must be big enough to take film equipment and crews.
• There must be easy parking.
• There must be enough room somewhere near to park the canteen van – most important!

In the past, finding suitable locations was a hit and miss affair, with freelance location managers having to source suitable venues for filming. But now, all is made easy with the www.envenio.com  website, whereby any property owner can post their home on the site and add to the database, which is constantly being scoured by film and television companies.

Advertising agencies are also always looking for unusual homes as backgrounds or foregrounds for ads. Even the naff and the kitsch can have their uses!

You, the owner, can post your property on the website for nothing, and should somebody want to film there, you will get paid anything from £400 to £2,500 a day. Filming can last from between one day and several weeks, and in order to allow filming to proceed uninterrupted, obviously all occupants have to make themselves scarce during proceedings.

The film company hiring your home may want to paint your walls a different colour or move in different furniture, but they will undertake to return your home in the condition they found it, even if this means complete redecoration.

Obviously, it is very disruptive to have a film crew hanging around your house for days, maybe weeks on end, but if your home suits the purpose, then it is good money for nothing really, and an excellent way of turning your home into yet another money spinner.

David Rudland, founder of the website, says: “We get numerous requests from people wanting to have their homes used for locations, and have found some spectacular properties in this way. We have council houses, grand mansions, old and new. We even have apartments used solely for film and TV work on our database. We take 15 per cent commission and try to get all the money upfront for our clients.

“Modern apartments are very popular for ads, but they must be very minimal, and large enough to fit in a film crew of, typically, 10 people.”

Tax matters

If you hire out your home to film companies on a regular basis, or otherwise rent it out for a short time, say, for Wimbledon fortnight, you may be liable to tax on the rental income.

Homeowners who receive income from short-term lettings, from letting their home while they are away on holiday, or hire out their house for profit, must make sure they declare this income on their tax return forms. Any undeclared income could come back to haunt homeowners and may result in substantial penalties.

All profit received on your own home is fully taxable, although you may be able to set some expenses against tax, such as the cost of advertising your home, letting agent’s fees, repairs, painting and decorating, gardening and window cleaning. Make sure you keep all bills.

If you are considering hiring or renting out your home for short periods, first take advice from your accountant as to whether generating income from your own main home will incur any Capital Gains Tax liability. In general terms, the Inland Revenue will take a view on this, as tax and Capital Gains Tax liability will depend on how much your home is used for purposes other than simply living.


 

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